By John Turner
Correspondent
On a perfect fall evening, the Nation Ford Falcons were hoping to notch their first Region 3-5A victory of the season in front of a big Homecoming crowd. The Blythewood Bengals had other ideas, as did the injury bug.
Already down several starters from previous weeks, the Falcons had to face a high-powered Blythewood squad without Jeremiah Hailstock, Morgan Ramirez and Brady Corzine just to name a few.
The Bengals won the toss and deferred giving the Falcons the ball first. Nation Ford hoped to draw first blood to set the tone, but it wasn’t meant to be going three and out. The Bengals took over with pretty good field position and although they picked up a couple of first downs were unable to score. The good feeling for the Falcons wouldn’t last long as quarterback Carson Black was picked off at midfield. It looked like the Bengals had scored on the play, but a block in the back penalty put the ball at the Nation Ford 42-yard line. Five plays later, Blythewood quarterback David Harden hit Anthony Thurman on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 8:08 left first quarter making it 7-0 Bengals.
Each team would exchange punts before Blythewood would add another score with 29 seconds left first quarter as Harden hits Dean Tyler from 20-yards out. The Ryan Hunt extra point was good putting the Bengals up 14-0. Undeterred, the Falcons’ offense went back to work with Black ripping a 35-yard pass to Daheem Knowles putting the ball at midfield as the first quarter came to an end. The drive would come to an end thanks to an untimely holding penalty committed by the Falcons. Nation Ford pinned the Bengals deep hoping to flip field position. But Blythewood was having none of it. After Herden has to limp off the field with an injury, Harrison Collins came off the bench and whistled a perfect skinny post to Deon Tyler who raced 81 yards for another Bengal touchdown making the score 21-0 Blythewood at the 7:56 mark second quarter.
The Falcons were in the process of putting together a decent drive when an already rough night got worse as Black almost had his head taken off by a Bengals defender as his helmet flew off and tricked down the field as his head slammed into the artificial surface. Unfortunately for Nation Ford, that would be the last action of the night for their star quarterback.
Punter/Kicker Reed Richardson took over at quarterback but threw an interception at the 2-yard line bringing a nice Nation Ford drive to a screeching halt. After the two teams exchanged possession another Nation Ford mistake cost them points. After a three and out, the Falcons were attempting to punt as Blythewood showed an 11-man front. The snap one hopped Richardson leading to the punt being blocked. Blythewood’s Hunt would nail a 31-yard field goal at the horn and the halftime score read 24-0.
Nation Ford got a three and out defensively to start the second half putting the Falcons offense in good position. Defensive star Clayton Rygol took over at quarterback for the black and red. On the second play of the drive, miscommunication between Rygol and his tailback led to another Nation Ford turnover.
The Falcons defense, however, bowed up and kept the Bengals off the board despite the short field. Nation Ford was unable to move the football forcing another Falcons punt. This time the snap went over Richardson’s head into the end zone for a safety making it 26-0 Blythewood. The Bengals would then drive the field again aided by some poor officiating. On a quick out, the Nation Ford defender made contact with a Bengals player inside the field the play and slung him out of bounds. For some reason, the down judge called that a personal foul. On the very next play, a 20-yard pass skipped on the turf yet the side judge called it a catch. Blythewood would take advantage on a 1-yard touchdown run by Harden making it 33-0 Bengals with 3:05 left third quarter.
In what was a lackluster fourth quarter for both teams, the Bengals would add their final score of the game on a 4-yard touchdown run by Deandre Williams making the final score 40-0.
With the victory, the Bengals improve to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the region. The loss dropped Nation Ford to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in region play. The Bengals battle Clover next week while the Falcons host the Rock Hill Bearcats.
